Chapter 20 - Episode 3. Silver Restraint (4)
Chapter 20: Episode 3. Silver Restraint (4)
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“What on earth is going on?”
“Why would the Chief let someone without identification through...?”
“Could the Chief have accepted a bribe?”
“Do not go around saying things like that!”
A few Adapters proved their identities at the checkpoint entrance and disappeared into the fortress.
Some kept glancing at Jaehwan’s sword, while others passed by with uninterested expressions. The guards nearby whispered among themselves.
James, in particular, was openly hostile toward Jaehwan. If his glare could have been put into words, it would have said something like this.
‘Who the hell is that guy?’
A moment later, two people walked out of the checkpoint. They were Mino and Karlton. Mino’s eyes looked almost soulless. She had been thoroughly worn down by the mental torture of 「Edict」.
“Mino, please make sure to carry identification with you from now on. And bribery is absolutely unacceptable. Normally, you would be dealt with severely under Article 7, Clause 34 of the Gorgon Entry Law, but Jaehwan asked for leniency, so I am granting you a special pardon.”
Mino turned her vacant eyes weakly toward Jaehwan, and Karlton continued.
“Jaehwan has already proven his identity.”
The item Jaehwan had given Karlton was a rare artifact known as a Soul-Mutation Stone, made by the Green Moth Family, one of the Five Great Families of the 《Great Realm》.
The Soulstone was originally an item Nokmyeong Great Family members used to prove their identity, but that was not the reason it was famous.
The Soulstone was a Treasure that forcibly increased an Adapter’s spiritual power.
For example, the blue Soulstone Jaehwan had thrown to Karlton was an incredible item that could instantly give a Non-Adapter the spiritual power of a first-stage Adapter.
That was why Jaehwan had been able to prove his identity without trouble.
“The inspection of these Soulstones is complete, so I will return them to you.”
“Looks like you do not need them.”
“Soulstones are not items one can casually give to someone else. You know that.”
Karlton personally placed the two Soulstones into Jaehwan’s hand.
After guiding Jaehwan and Mino past the entrance, Karlton took something from his pocket, saying that this was the final procedure. It looked like a small thermometer.
“It is a contamination meter. As you already know, every being entering the fortress must undergo this test. It is only a precaution.”
Contamination? Jaehwan glanced at Mino. Usually, she would have screeched out an explanation at a time like this. Yet Mino still looked utterly dazed.
Karlton said, “She was hit by Edict, so she will likely remain like that for a while.”
Jaehwan nodded as if he understood.
“Then we will test Mino first.”
A beeping sound rang out, and a small screen appeared in the air.
[Measurement Result: Safety Warning! Soul contamination has exceeded 15%. We recommend taking medication as soon as possible.]
Karlton’s expression hardened again.
“Mino, according to Article 8, Clause 14 of the Gorgon Entry Law...”
With a blank look on her face, Mino pulled out a bundle of powdered medicine and began shoving it into her mouth.
Then it was Jaehwan’s turn. The moment the meter flashed, Jaehwan felt something swiftly pass through his body. The meter’s light flickered wildly.
As though he had never seen anything like it before, Karlton’s eyes sharpened.
Could Jaehwan's soul be contaminated?
Then the result appeared.
[Measurement Result: The target’s soul contamination cannot be measured.]
Karlton looked stunned for a moment before asking Jaehwan for permission once more.
“I am sorry, but I will try once more.”
[Measurement Result: The target’s soul contamination cannot be measured.]
Karlton fell silent.
This meter never malfunctioned. In all his years of service, no, not since the meter had been created, he had never heard of it producing an “error.”
There was only one case in which it could not measure soul contamination.
When the soul contamination level was 0%.
A soul contamination level of 0%.
It was not a number one could attain by taking a lot of good medicine. Even Karlton, who had taken readings for fifty-five years, was seeing such a result for the first time.
Not even the high-ranking Adapters in this fortress possessed a soul as clean as this.
At last, Karlton seemed to understand.
“I see. That must be why my 「Silver Restraint」 had no effect on you at all. I have never seen a soul as pure as yours.”
Karlton recalled how Jaehwan had resisted not only the 「Edict」 skill, but even 「Silver Restraint」.
Someone who did not follow the System in the slightest possessed a clean soul? It was a contradiction. Yet after seeing the clear result, he could not deny it.
“All procedures are complete. You may go now.”
Unexpectedly, Jaehwan did not simply leave.
* * *
“Chief, are you sure it is all right to let them go like that?”
James, the Chief’s assistant, watched the pair walking away.
He could not understand it.
“James, you knew that the Nokmyeong Great Family was coming to Chaos, did you not?”
“I did, but...”
Of course he knew. Before visiting Chaos, the Five Great Families of the Great Realm always notified each fortress in advance.
They were not just anyone. They were one of the Five Great Families.
Along with Dream Demons who dealt in dreams, they were the only ones able to travel to and from 《Chaos》 without paying the price of “death.”
“But they do not look like members of the Nokmyeong Great Family at all.”
Green skin and two antennae. The Nokmyeong Great Family’s appearance was distinctive enough for anyone to recognize.
“That is true. He does not look like a member of the Nokmyeong Great Family at all.”
“Then why were you certain that he was one?”
At that, Karlton gave a bitter smile and suddenly asked a question.
“James, do you know what kind of item a Soulstone is?”
“Is it not a rare artifact that amplifies an Adapter’s spiritual power?”
“That is correct.”
Who did not know about Soulstones?
Every Adapter coveted one.
“Then have you heard about the side effects of a Soulstone?”
“Side effects?”
James looked blank for a moment.
Without a word, Karlton removed the white glove from his hand. His palm, down to its tiniest veins, had been burned black as though he had suffered a burn.
But it was clearly not a burn.
James knew exactly what it was.
“Soul contamination?”
How could this be?
James could not believe his eyes.
Soul contamination was a disease, like karma, for those who lived in 《Chaos》. Everyone in Chaos had their soul gradually contaminated simply by existing there.
Little by little.
Then, once the contamination level reached one hundred percent, they met an end more horrifying than death.
There was a way to prevent it.
By eating the horns of hunted horned beasts.
Those who consistently took medicine made by grinding those horns could avoid contamination and survive for a long time.
As far as James knew, Karlton was one of the people in this fortress who kept their souls the cleanest.
Yet Karlton’s soul had been contaminated.
And it was only on his palm.
James hurriedly took out some medicine from his pocket and sprinkled it over Karlton’s hand. It was the medicine he had received from Mino earlier.
“Could it be because of the Soulstone?”
Karlton nodded.
“James, have you ever seen someone who was not from the Nokmyeong Great Family possess a Soulstone?”
James thought carefully.
He had not.
“Do you not find that strange? An artifact as valuable as a Soulstone would surely make people attack the Nokmyeong Great Family just to obtain one.”
Now that he thought about it, that was true. Some Nokmyeong Great Family members traveled alone. If they all carried Soulstones, there should have been at least one group that attacked them for the stones.
Yet James had never heard of such a thing happening.
“...It was because of soul contamination.”
Karlton nodded once again.
“Anyone who is not from the Nokmyeong Great Family can never handle a Soulstone. Only Nokmyeong can possess those stones without becoming contaminated.”
If that was true, it was not strange for Karlton to call that man a member of the Nokmyeong Great Family.
Still, James found it difficult to accept.
“I have never heard of a Green Moth without antennae.”
Karlton smiled bitterly and extinguished the silver aura rising from his shoulders.
“James, what do I look like to you now?”
“...Pardon?”
In the next moment, James understood what Karlton meant.
Karlton Xavier.
A man born as a hybrid of a Celestial and a human.
He had not inherited the Celestial traits of pointed ears and a jewel on the forehead. The only thing he had inherited was the Celestials’ silver aura. Without it, he was almost indistinguishable from a human.
James muttered inwardly, almost with a sigh.
‘I see. If that man is like the Chief...’
Then James stopped short.
But had this stubborn Chief really let that man through for such a personal reason?
James looked at Karlton’s profile.
His superior looked endlessly kind, yet it was impossible to know what he was thinking.
“It seems you still have doubts, James.”
“...I apologize.”
“No, your doubts are admirable.”
“Pardon?”
What was that supposed to mean?
“Under normal circumstances, I would not have let that man through for that reason alone.”
James immediately realized something.
“Did an order come from the inner fortress?”
“It appeared to be urgent. I have sent word, so they will likely find them soon.”
“Ah.”
“It does not matter whether he is a member of the Nokmyeong Great Family or not. He has Soulstones, and he appears able to use them...”
Soulstones.
Stones that increased an Adapter’s spiritual power.
At the same time, stones that quickly contaminated anyone who was not a Green Moth.
The urgent search for someone who could handle such Soulstones.
Something flashed through James’s mind.
“Does this have something to do with the Fortress Lord’s condition?”
“I do not know the details either. Still...”
One thing was certain. Something would soon begin in Gorgon Fortress.
Karlton recalled his final conversation with Jaehwan.
“I do not know what you are plotting. I am not one of those Green Moth whatever-they-are. You know that, do you not?”
“Of course I do.”
“Are you sure it is all right to let me go like this? It goes against your sense of justice.”
Justice.
Karlton smiled at those words.
“Someday, our justice may meet again.”
Karlton remembered Jaehwan’s terrifying presence.
If not for that presence, Karlton would not have rushed over. For some reason, that man had seemed to want to fight him.
No, perhaps the one he wanted to face was not Karlton, but...
Karlton quietly looked up at Gorgon Fortress.
If Jaehwan had drawn his sword, or if he had not thrown the Soulstone, what would have happened by now? Even Karlton, confident in his own abilities, could not picture what would have come next.
“By the way, James.”
“Yes?”
“I heard that you are the one who accepted the bribe.”
“Th-that was...”
“According to Article 34, Clause 7 of the Gorgon Criminal Code...”
James’s face crumpled miserably.
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion